Transcript ANT/HIST 500

ANT/HIST 500
The Ancient City
Day 3
Toward the Neolithic
The Ages
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Paleolithic: Old Stone Age
Mesolithic: Middle Stone Age
Neolithic: New Stone Age
Chalcolithic: Copper Age
Bronze Age: d’uh
Iron Age: ditto
Natufian  Khiamian
The “Epi-Paleolithic” or
Mesolithic
Natufian
Natufian
Natufian/Khiamian
Polity
• Not much to be said
• Hunting & Gathering societies typically
share “Episodic” leadership just as small
groups do
• No obvious social stratification in burials,
architecture, jewelry
Economy
• Hunting & Gathering
• “Broad Spectrum” (Flannery)
• Evidence of “Down the Line” trade
Economy
Necklace of Teeth, Bone, and Sea
Shells from El Wad
This would have required trade or
foraging parties in order to get the
sea shells from the coast
Economy
Natufian Sickle: Although they had such technology, this is
not evidence of domesticated grains.
Culture
Natufian Burial at El Wad
Culture
Burial with Dog at
Ein Mallaha
Culture
Natufian animal carving
Culture
Natufian platform.
Pits and staircase are from
later period.
Possible sanctuary?
Environment
• Early Natufian: Relatively warm, wooded;
12,500-11,000 BC; sedentism in favored
environments
• Late Natufian: “Younger Dryas” little Ice
age; 11,000-10,000 BC; nomadism
• Khiamian: End of Late Natufian & return to
sedentism; 10,000-9,500 BC
Environment
Plan of Hayonim Cave
Environment
Reconstruction of Natufian Hut,
Beidha
Toward Urbanization
Neolithic
A. Pre-Pottery Neolithic
1.PPNA (9,500-8,500 BC)
2.PPNB (8,500-7,000 BC)
3.PPNC (7,000-6,000 BC)
B. Pottery Neolithic
1.Halaf Culture (6,500-5,100 BC)
2.Samarra Culture (6,000-5,000) BC
Chalcolithic
A. Ubaid (5,000-3,900 BC)
Neolithic
The first agricultural villages
9,500BC-6,000BC
Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN)
Gobekli Tepe
PPNA Polity
• Appears to still be based on episodic
leadership and age
• No evidence of stratification
• Likely religious “shamans”
PPNA - Polity
Jericho
PPNA Economy
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Cultivation of Wild cereals
Domestication of fig (9600 BC)
Domestication of cereals (9200 BC)
Domestication of Legumes (9000 BC)
Evidence of Trade in Obsidian, likely for
Dead Sea shells and bitumen
PPNA Culture(s)
• Sultanian (Jericho and Jordan Valley)
• Aswadian (Syria near Damascus)
• Mureybetian (Euphrates Valley and
Southern Turkey)
PPNA Culture
Plastered Skulls from Jericho
PPNA Culture
• Religion like based on ancestor worship
• In north, also evidence of animistic
concepts at Gobekli Tepe, but this is not in
evidence in the Sultanian or Aswadian
regions
• Religion appears to be the mechanism by
which leaders motivated people
PPNA Culture
Gobekli Tepe
PPNA Culture
• In south (Sultanian and
Aswadian) goddess figurines
• In north (Mureybetian) we
see animal carved in
sculpture, introduction of bull
symbolism
PPNA Environment
Housing at Mureybet
PPNA Environment
• Largest villages such as Mureybet and
Jericho grew to as many as 700 residents
• Held religious authority over surrounding
villages and received “help” from them
PPNB
• The “root” of the later Neolithic
• Seems to be a later expression and
spreading of the Mureybetian culture
PPNB Polity
• Appears to still be based on episodic
leadership and age
• No evidence of stratification
• Likely religious “shamans”
PPNB Economy
• Widespread use of Domesticated cereals
& legumes
• Evidence of Trade in Obsidian, likely for
Dead Sea shells and bitumen
• Introduction of goat and sheep herding
PPNB Culture
Plastered Skulls at Mureybet
PPNB Culture
Wall Fresco at Dja’de
PPNB Culture
Bucrania embedded in PPNB wall at Dja’de
PPNB Environment
• Key communities such as Mureybet,
Jericho & Beidha on early trade routes,
growing to as much as 1,000 residents
• Use of stone for housing, first rectangular
housing in world history
PPNC
• An extension of the Aceramic PPNB
culture in the southern Levant
• In the north, ceramics had been invented
during the Late PPNB and the subsequent
culture is called “Halaf”
PPNC Polity
• Appears to still be based on episodic
leadership and age
• No evidence of stratification
• Likely religious “shamans”
PPNC Economy
• Comes to be dominated by goat and
sheep herding
• Environment is degraded due to herding,
and in time pastoral nomadism becomes
the rule
• Extensive trade between settled villages
and nomads; likely fellow clans
• Extension of Near Eastern trade routes
PPNC Economy
Grain Storage at Ain Ghazal, centralized
and likely controlled through religious
mechanisms
PPNC Culture
Sanctuary at Ain Ghazal, near Amman Jordan
PPNC Culture
Clay figurines from
Ain Ghazal
PPNC Culture
Burial beneath house at Ain Ghazal
Plaster Death Mask from Jericho
PPNC Culture
Statues from Ain Ghazal
PPNC Environment
• Use of plaster on floors
• Stone rectangular buildings
Pottery Neolithic
• Primarily in the north, an extension of
PPNB culture with the advent of ceramic
pottery
• A sequence of cultures, including ProtoHassuna, Hassuna, and Pre-Halaf leading
to the Halaf culture after 6,000 BC
• “Culture” is equated with pottery styles
PN: Catal Hoyuk 6500-5500 BC
PN: Catal Hoyuk Polity
• Seems to have been based around family
units, with each “matriarch” family having a
slightly more elaborate home with space
for rituals
• Rituals included plastered skulls, likely of
revered ancestors
• No other evidence for social stratification;
homes are approximately the same size
• No centralized location for collective
worship or meetings
PN: Catal Hoyuk Economy
• Based on agriculture, hunting and
gathering for subsistence (same as earlier
agricultural societies)
• Trade in Obsidian
PN: Catal Hoyuk Culture
Pottery (above)
Burial of Pregnant Woman (right)
PN: Catal Hoyuk Culture
Wall mural of hunting scene (above)
Goddess figurine seated on throne
flanked by two animals (right)
PN: Catal Hoyuk Culture
PN: Catal Hoyuk Environment
PN: Catal Hoyuk Environment
Reconstruction of House,
except side entrance